All-round Chawla puts India in firm control

Bangalore: Bangalore: Australia 'A' were staring at an immenent follow-on after spinners Parmar and Chawla ran amok as the team from Down Under slumped to 113/8 in first innings in reply to India-A's 284 on day two of the three-day tie at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.

Earlier, India 'A' resuming at the overnight score of 180/4 were bowled out for 284. The set overnight batsman Mohammed Kaif and Virat Kohli missed on personal milestones. Kaif missed the magical three-figure mark by just six runs while Kohli, who had a decent run with the bat in the recently concluded ODI series against Lanka, fell a run shy of deserving half-century.

Kaif's 204-ball 94 was studded with 15 hits to fence and one over it. Kohli knitted 49 from 106 balls inclusive of four boundaries.

Australia-A batters, staking claim for Test spot in the forthcoming series against India, failed to impress CA selectors present in the venue with a poor technique and stratgey. Most of them stayed backfoot on a low-bounce Bangalore wicket and paid a heavy price for it.

India seamers Dhawal Kulkarni and Sudip Tyagi forced Aussies go backfoot with a probing line and a deliberate short length. Aussie top-order batters including their seasoned batsman Simon Katich fell into this trap as the tourists slumped to 45/3.

Spinners Mohnish Parmar (3/37) and Piyush Chawla (2/36) then got into the wicket taking to leave Aus-A struggling at 113/8 at stumps.

The spin duo, who bowled deceptively well mixing subtle variations with a well-controlled flighted ones, never allowed Aussie batsmen to settle down.

Earlier in the morning session The left-arm seamer Doug Bollinger bowled exceptionally well on flat and hard Bangalore wickets.

The 21-year-old Welshman sent both the set overnight batsman packing early on. He induced Kohli to edge one to Katich at slip and then accounted for the vital scalp of Kaif, who played an atrocious cut off a widish delivery, found safe pair of hand of Marcus North, stationed at short thirdman.

Bollinger snared two more wickets but a gem of a stroke-filled 85-ball 66 (10X4s, 1X6) from No.7 batsman Chawla ensured India a healthy first innings total of 284.

The visitors still require another 21 runs to avoid follow-on the last day.